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Corn harvest finished, soybeans not far behind

In mid-August, the USDA began reporting corn harvest progress. Now, 12 weeks later, the Crop Progress report is showing corn harvest at 95 percent complete. It also indicates that this will be the last week corn harvest progress is reported, marking the end to the earliest harvest season ever in Crop Progress history dating to 1985.

Compared to last year (85 percent) and the five-year average (71 percent), producers across the country can start preparing for 2013, which hopefully will bring better conditions.

All but three states are nearly finished with corn harvest – Pennsylvania (72 percent), Ohio (74 percent) and Michigan (75 percent). Michigan made the biggest advances from last week, jumping by 18 percentage points. Ohio has reported the largest difference from 2011’s report, putting the state 45 percentage points above last year’s pace.

Looking back, it’s easy to see how what was to be a record-breaking crop quickly turned into devastation thanks to relentless drought and heat waves. This year’s corn harvest began well before any of the other years in the Crop Progress’ history.

Soybean harvest isn’t far behind, reported at 93 percent complete. Once again, North Carolina is lagging behind the other reporting states and their pace from last year. During this time in 2011, North Carolina reported 32 percent of soybeans harvested. This week, the USDA showed that the state had wrapped up harvest on just 26 percent of soybeans.

The USDA will continue to report progress on the soybean harvest through next week.